A farmer in Jalalabad Province (file photo) (epa)
September 10, 2006 -- The London-based Christian Aid warns people in Afghanistan could face starvation after drought destroyed much of the harvest in the north and west.

The agency found that most of the water sources in Herat, Badghis, and Ghor provinces had dried up, while the wheat harvest was down by 90 to 100 percent in parts of Faryab Province.

Christian Aid urged international donors to pledge funds for Afghanistan's emergency drought appeal -- set up by the Afghan government and the United Nations -- which needs $76 million.

Christian Aid is an agency of the churches in Britain and Ireland.

(AFP)

Opium In Afghanistan

An antidrug billboard in Kabul shows a skeleton hanging from an opium bulb (AFP)

OPIUM FARMING ON THE RISE Despite a nationwide program by the Afghan government to eradicate opium-poppy fields and offer farmers alternative crops, international experts say that the 2006 opium crop will be as much as 40 percent larger than the previous year's. Afghanistan is the largest producer of opium in the world, and the source of as much as 90 percent of Europe's heroin.(more)